Legal Entitlement to Copy and Distribute Public GitHub Repository for Non-Commercial and Commercial Use

I have a public repository on GitHub that currently does not have any license attached to it. I am curious about the legal implications of someone copying and distributing the code from my repository, whether it is for non-commercial or commercial use.

Is anyone legally entitled to copy and distribute the code from an unlicensed public GitHub repository, or are there any restrictions in place to protect the original author's rights? I would appreciate any insights or relevant legal references regarding this matter.

Note: This question is purely hypothetical, and I do not currently suspect any unauthorized use or theft of my code. I am simply seeking clarification for future reference and ensuring the protection of my work.

In most countries, copyright attaches to original works of authorship at the moment they're expressed in a fixed form (e.g., on paper or in a digital form). Copyright typically restricts people from copying and distributing such works, with some exceptions.

For example, in most locales, fair use or fair dealing permits copying small snippets of code or text for fair commentary. Thus, under U.S. or Canadian law, I could copy small segments of your code to praise or criticize it, to comment on a stylistic approach, or other similar things. You would not have legal rights to prevent such usage under the law.

In addition, by posting code on GitHub, you agree to grant GitHub and users some rights according to the terms of service. Because in many cases compiling and running code is not restricted by law, if you grant GitHub and its users the right to download it, implicitly or explicitly, people might be able to make use of it on their own systems without legal restriction.

However, in general, wholesale copying and distribution is restricted by copyright law, and people cannot legally do so without the consent of the copyright holder. If you have not granted a license or other permission, then those acts are usually forbidden by law. What rights are available in a certain country depends on the treaties that your country and the other one have signed and the national law of that country. (Notably, Iran and some other countries are not parties to most copyright treaties, so, depending on local law, your copyright from another country may be meaningless and ineffective.)

Some countries also have restrictions on modifications or usages that might dishonour the author (e.g., printing out your code and using it in a performance as toilet paper) or that might remove the right of the author to be identified as its creator. These are called moral rights, and may or may not be waived, depending on the local law.

As always, if you are unclear about the law, you should consult a licensed attorney or other legal professional in your jurisdiction. I provide this as a brief summary of the law as I understand it; I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.